As some of you are already aware, your friendly local Highpower shooters at Camp Atterbury in Indiana have elected to lead the way as a small-ish range going forward with the next generation of target system: Electronic scoring/monitoring.
Previously, much of the technology available was cost-prohibitive for ranges and groups with less than the financial backing of a place as magnificent as Talladega. However, with the advent of Silver Mountain's acoustic plug-and-play target systems, the status quo changed.
Central Indiana Highpower (CIHRPS.org) has secured first 4, and now 6 complete Silver Mountain systems, and we are working with Wayne, and all of the CIHPRS membership, under our fearless leader's guidance, to prepare for our first matches of the season. A large part of this preparation occurred Saturday the 6th during our annual workday, and we have the following to report:
It works, and it's awesome!
Reporting accurate bullet placements, scores, temperature, speed of the bullet at the target, group center location, and ongoing plot, all accessible from a standard WiFi connection on the firing line, we anticipate extreme gains in match efficiency on the military base, ability to coach juniors and possibly run clinics, and overall enjoyment of the shooting experience at Atterbury.
For those of you concerned with the system, and it's logistics, I understand. My OCD is raging a little as well, but I can assure you that everything will work out fine, and we will all figure out how to shoot as many X's on the new system--but now, while sipping lemonade at the firing line--as we would have on paper.
Facts and Notes:
--The target frame's white will remain the familiar 6-foot square, but will now be white, instead of buff, as it is constructed of polyboard.
--The aiming blacks are regulation-sized, and are LITERALLY paper targets pasted to additional poly backer "pizza pans".
--The blacks are index-marked at the edges at 12/3/6/9-o'clock to match to a red quadrant centered on the aiming point of the white, such that the blacks can be reliable transitioned on/off their Velcro-Brand fasteners.
--Aiming blacks are centered exactly 2" above the center of the white frame (why yes, we did chalk-line them). All Aiming blacks, regardless of size from 200 through 1,000 yard centers, are centered on the same point.
--ACOUSTIC center of the frames is located exactly 10.0" BELOW the Target center, and it is to THIS point that your rifle zeroes must be adjusted to put a bullet through the paper and score an "X". This may become more clear in a second when you see the photo of the frames.
--Simply put, the Acoustic center of the target is located 10" low to also put the bottom SENSORS 10" lower than the bottom of the aiming white. Plainly: we want as much of the sensors and equipment as possible to be BELOW the berm. There's little to be done about the top 2 sensors, and their corresponding wires, and we will be securing additional replacements, but as much as we can do to protect the investment is being done.
--Prior to the season's matches, we are going through a live-fire calibration of individual frames, their sensors, and their individual wireless router/Kindle. These sets of equipment will then be kept together as a single-target unit and will NOT be swapped between frames to account for small differences from frame-to-frame and match-to-match.
--For those of you on optics, or on match sights, the negative zero change to score centered hits on this target system will possibly be fairly simple. For those Cross-Course shooters on A2 or similar Service Rifles, it is still simple: turn the front sight out 1 full turn (pretty close to 5 MOA). Corrections for everybody to bridge that 10" gap are as follows:
200 Yards: -4.75 MOA
300 Yards: -3.25 MOA
500 Yards: -2.00 MOA
600 Yards: -1.50 MOA
800 Yards: -1.25 MOA
900 Yards: -1.00 MOA
1,000 Yards: -1.00 MOA
1,200 Yards: -0.75 MOA
...if you are one of the ELR or Sniper match guys, you can figger it for yourself beyond that...
Now for the fun part, images:
1) Target frame showing offset of aiming white vs. sensor array brackets (the little black bits at the corners of the frame).
2) Authentic NRA aiming blacks on their "pizza pans" drying on the floor after gluing, waiting for Velcro.
3) Closer photo of the center of a virgin frame, showing Aiming center 2" North of White Center (the top little "x" on the upper chalk line), and 10" North of the Acoustic Center (bottom little "x" on the lower chalk line).
4) One of our fearless leaders, the inimitable Shawn Agne, assembling the lower sensors on the array. Over his shoulder, you can see the secured 600 yard aiming black for initial calibration yesterday by F-Class shooter Dwayne Dragoo.
5) The resulting screenshot of Jeff Hopkins' testing at 600 yards, showing all impacts, current impact, velocities, and the yellow circle reflecting group center (this feature will be disabled during matches).
I'm quite sure I've missed some things, and there may be a hiccup here and there, but we will work through them. Whatever questions you all have, throw them at us, and please put a match at Atterbury on your calendar just as soon as you can. It looks to be a really exciting 2016 match season with CIHPRS!
-Nate
Previously, much of the technology available was cost-prohibitive for ranges and groups with less than the financial backing of a place as magnificent as Talladega. However, with the advent of Silver Mountain's acoustic plug-and-play target systems, the status quo changed.
Central Indiana Highpower (CIHRPS.org) has secured first 4, and now 6 complete Silver Mountain systems, and we are working with Wayne, and all of the CIHPRS membership, under our fearless leader's guidance, to prepare for our first matches of the season. A large part of this preparation occurred Saturday the 6th during our annual workday, and we have the following to report:
It works, and it's awesome!
Reporting accurate bullet placements, scores, temperature, speed of the bullet at the target, group center location, and ongoing plot, all accessible from a standard WiFi connection on the firing line, we anticipate extreme gains in match efficiency on the military base, ability to coach juniors and possibly run clinics, and overall enjoyment of the shooting experience at Atterbury.
For those of you concerned with the system, and it's logistics, I understand. My OCD is raging a little as well, but I can assure you that everything will work out fine, and we will all figure out how to shoot as many X's on the new system--but now, while sipping lemonade at the firing line--as we would have on paper.
Facts and Notes:
--The target frame's white will remain the familiar 6-foot square, but will now be white, instead of buff, as it is constructed of polyboard.
--The aiming blacks are regulation-sized, and are LITERALLY paper targets pasted to additional poly backer "pizza pans".
--The blacks are index-marked at the edges at 12/3/6/9-o'clock to match to a red quadrant centered on the aiming point of the white, such that the blacks can be reliable transitioned on/off their Velcro-Brand fasteners.
--Aiming blacks are centered exactly 2" above the center of the white frame (why yes, we did chalk-line them). All Aiming blacks, regardless of size from 200 through 1,000 yard centers, are centered on the same point.
--ACOUSTIC center of the frames is located exactly 10.0" BELOW the Target center, and it is to THIS point that your rifle zeroes must be adjusted to put a bullet through the paper and score an "X". This may become more clear in a second when you see the photo of the frames.
--Simply put, the Acoustic center of the target is located 10" low to also put the bottom SENSORS 10" lower than the bottom of the aiming white. Plainly: we want as much of the sensors and equipment as possible to be BELOW the berm. There's little to be done about the top 2 sensors, and their corresponding wires, and we will be securing additional replacements, but as much as we can do to protect the investment is being done.
--Prior to the season's matches, we are going through a live-fire calibration of individual frames, their sensors, and their individual wireless router/Kindle. These sets of equipment will then be kept together as a single-target unit and will NOT be swapped between frames to account for small differences from frame-to-frame and match-to-match.
--For those of you on optics, or on match sights, the negative zero change to score centered hits on this target system will possibly be fairly simple. For those Cross-Course shooters on A2 or similar Service Rifles, it is still simple: turn the front sight out 1 full turn (pretty close to 5 MOA). Corrections for everybody to bridge that 10" gap are as follows:
200 Yards: -4.75 MOA
300 Yards: -3.25 MOA
500 Yards: -2.00 MOA
600 Yards: -1.50 MOA
800 Yards: -1.25 MOA
900 Yards: -1.00 MOA
1,000 Yards: -1.00 MOA
1,200 Yards: -0.75 MOA
...if you are one of the ELR or Sniper match guys, you can figger it for yourself beyond that...
Now for the fun part, images:
1) Target frame showing offset of aiming white vs. sensor array brackets (the little black bits at the corners of the frame).
2) Authentic NRA aiming blacks on their "pizza pans" drying on the floor after gluing, waiting for Velcro.
3) Closer photo of the center of a virgin frame, showing Aiming center 2" North of White Center (the top little "x" on the upper chalk line), and 10" North of the Acoustic Center (bottom little "x" on the lower chalk line).
4) One of our fearless leaders, the inimitable Shawn Agne, assembling the lower sensors on the array. Over his shoulder, you can see the secured 600 yard aiming black for initial calibration yesterday by F-Class shooter Dwayne Dragoo.
5) The resulting screenshot of Jeff Hopkins' testing at 600 yards, showing all impacts, current impact, velocities, and the yellow circle reflecting group center (this feature will be disabled during matches).
I'm quite sure I've missed some things, and there may be a hiccup here and there, but we will work through them. Whatever questions you all have, throw them at us, and please put a match at Atterbury on your calendar just as soon as you can. It looks to be a really exciting 2016 match season with CIHPRS!
-Nate